MKS Inc. $MKSI Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its stake in shares of MKS Inc. (NASDAQ:MKSI) by 25.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 835,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 282,142 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.24% of MKS worth $191,879,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MKSI. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in MKS during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of MKS by 560.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 165 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in MKS by 616.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 172 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of MKS during the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MKS by 55.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the period. 99.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other MKS news, CFO Ramakumar Mayampurath sold 8,810 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.48, for a total transaction of $2,779,378.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 1 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $315.48. This represents a 99.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP David Philip Henry sold 2,500 shares of MKS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.50, for a total transaction of $826,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 16,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,400,700.50. This trade represents a 13.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 53,949 shares of company stock valued at $17,446,108 over the last three months. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MKSI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded MKS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MKS in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MKS from $374.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on MKS from $380.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on MKS from $355.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $385.00.

MKS Trading Down 4.7%

Shares of MKSI opened at $329.18 on Friday. MKS Inc. has a 12 month low of $88.49 and a 12 month high of $447.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $351.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $22.23 billion, a PE ratio of 68.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.93.

MKS (NASDAQ:MKSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $2.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.30. MKS had a net margin of 8.06% and a return on equity of 21.49%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. MKS has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.600-3.200 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MKS Inc. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MKS Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. MKS’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.92%.

MKS Profile

MKS Instruments, Inc (NASDAQ: MKSI) designs, manufactures and markets technology solutions that enable advanced processes in a variety of high‐technology and industrial markets. The company’s core offerings include vacuum and gas delivery systems, pressure and flow measurement instruments, optical metrology tools, photonics subsystems and critical components for manufacturing processes. These products support the precise control and monitoring needs of semiconductor, industrial manufacturing, life and health sciences, and research applications.

The company’s product portfolio features mass flow controllers, pressure transducers, vacuum gauges, gas purity monitors, laser-based metrology systems and photonic devices such as lasers and detectors.